2009 marks my fifth year in the world of blogging–hard to believe for me, for it seems like only a couple of months ago that I started putting up blog posts on a regular basis. Man, does time fly!

Stages of Blogging

I’ve gone through several different sorts of relationships with my blog over the previous five years:

• strictly pedagogically-oriented
• article repository
• community-oriented
• platform for freelance gripes
• massive time sink
• something I only occasionally check in with

For me, blogging can take an hour a week or 50 hours per week, and I’ve definitely found that 50 hours doesn’t produce 50 times the quality. Over the past year I’ve been trying to figure out a reasonable blog workflow, one that keeps (hopefully) interesting content flowing across the front page but gives me the time I need to perform, teach, and live my regular life.

Working in Chunks of Time Rather than Continuously

It’s easy with blogging (like email, social networking, or any other real-time updating service) to spend hours a day poking around for post ideas, responding to comments, and interacting with other bloggers and bassists. I’ve certainly spent a lot of time in this kind of role, probably spending 3-5 hours a day seven days a week working on the blog.

Over time, I’ve moved almost 100% to future posting, writing content in chunks of 4-5 hours, but only once every couple of weeks (or perhaps only once a month if I’m busy). If it seems like I’m slow to react to a comment, event, or situation in the music world, this is probably the reason why. My content here on doublebassblog.org is essentially on a time delay–I actually am getting folks’ emails and ideas, but I have to wait until I get one of those chunks of time to act upon it.

Drawbacks to this Approach

Do I miss out on interesting content that would be great for the blog? You bet.

Is it harder to interact with readers and other bloggers? Absolutely.

Has my blog become more of a one-way stream of information rather than a conversation? Yup.

For me, however, this is the sort of workflow that works with my life, and if I want to keep the blog going long-term, this is the way it’s gotta be. If I decided to try and do this full-time (something I’ve contemplated and could probably make happen, though I’m not sure if full-time blog man is what I want to be in today’s economic climate!), I’d be able to fulfill those roles I just described, but this is the way it is.

In the future, expect to see a mix of the following:

• podcast episodes (weekly)
• original content (pedagogical or music business-related)
• photos, videos, and “cool stuff” posts
• contributions from doublebassblog.org collaborators
• “best of” posts
• music news summary/link posts

You’re Welcome to Contribute Content!

If you are interested in doing some writing for doublebassblog.org, drop me a line and let me know!